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Nanoco Technologies Ltd. (Nanoco) is a UK-based
nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...
company that spun out from the
University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
in 2001. The company's development has been driven by Dr Nigel Pickett, Nanoco's Chief Technology Officer, whose pioneering work on the patented "molecular seeding" process has formed the basis of Nanoco's unique technology. Since 2004, Nanoco has focussed its research efforts into the development and scale-up of
quantum dots Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor particles a few nanometres in size, having optical and electronic properties that differ from those of larger particles as a result of quantum mechanics. They are a central topic in nanotechnology. When the ...
and other
nanoparticles A nanoparticle or ultrafine particle is usually defined as a particle of matter that is between 1 and 100 nanometres (nm) in diameter. The term is sometimes used for larger particles, up to 500 nm, or fibers and tubes that are less than 1 ...
, including
cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Like zinc, it demonstrates oxidation state +2 in most of ...
-free quantum dots. Nanoco's technology has been licensed to
Dow Dow or DOW may refer to: Business * Dow Jones Industrial Average, or simply the Dow, a stock market index * Dow Inc., an American commodity chemical company ** Dow Chemical Company, a subsidiary, an American multinational chemical corporation ...
, Wah Hong, and
Merck Merck refers primarily to the German Merck family and three companies founded by the family, including: * the Merck Group, a German chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences company founded in 1668 ** Merck Serono (known as EMD Serono in the Unite ...
, amongst others. The company has a production facility in
Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...
, UK. Nanoco is unique in the nanomaterials market as a company that manufactures large quantities of high grade
quantum dots Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor particles a few nanometres in size, having optical and electronic properties that differ from those of larger particles as a result of quantum mechanics. They are a central topic in nanotechnology. When the ...
(QDs), in particular cadmium-free quantum dots and other electronic grade nanomaterials.


Market Diffusion

Growing industrial adoption of quantum dot technology by R&D and blue-chip organisations has led to a greater demand for the bulk manufacture of the product. The bulk manufacture of high grade
quantum dots Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor particles a few nanometres in size, having optical and electronic properties that differ from those of larger particles as a result of quantum mechanics. They are a central topic in nanotechnology. When the ...
provides companies with the platform to develop a wide variety of next-generation products, particularly in application areas such as displays (
Quantum dot display A quantum dot display is a display device that uses quantum dots (QD), semiconductor nanocrystals which can produce pure monochromatic red, green, and blue light. ''Photo-emissive'' quantum dot particles are used in LCD backlights and/or disp ...
),
sensors A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the purpose of sensing a physical phenomenon. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a device, module, machine, or subsystem that detects events or changes in its environment and sends ...
, LED lighting,
backlighting A backlight is a form of illumination used in liquid crystal displays (LCDs). As LCDs do not produce light by themselves—unlike, for example, cathode ray tube (CRT), plasma (PDP) or OLED displays—they need illumination ( ambient light or a s ...
, flexible low-cost
solar cells A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physics, physical and Chemical substance, chemical phenomenon.Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastic ...
. Following commissioning of Dow's plant in
Cheonan Cheonan (; 천안시, ''Cheonan-si''), also spelled Ch'ŏnan, is a city in South Chungcheong, South Korea. Cheonan has a population of 666,417 (2018), making it the most-populous city or county in South Chungcheong, and the third most-populous ci ...
, South Korea, Nanoco received its first royalty payment in 2016. Nanoco signed further licensing agreements with Wah Hong and
Merck Merck refers primarily to the German Merck family and three companies founded by the family, including: * the Merck Group, a German chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences company founded in 1668 ** Merck Serono (known as EMD Serono in the Unite ...
. At the
Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...
2015, improved
backlighting A backlight is a form of illumination used in liquid crystal displays (LCDs). As LCDs do not produce light by themselves—unlike, for example, cathode ray tube (CRT), plasma (PDP) or OLED displays—they need illumination ( ambient light or a s ...
using QDs in
LCD television Liquid-crystal-display televisions (LCD TVs) are television sets that use liquid-crystal displays to produce images. They are, by far, the most widely produced and sold television display type. LCD TVs are thin and light, but have some disadvantag ...
sets was a major topic. South Korean (
Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
, LG), Chinese (
TCL TCL or Tcl or TCLs may refer to: Business * TCL Technology, a Chinese consumer electronics and appliance company **TCL Electronics, a subsidiary of TCL Technology * Texas Collegiate League, a collegiate baseball league * Trade Centre Limited ...
,
Hisense Hisense Group is a Chinese multinational major appliance and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China. Televisions are the main products of Hisense, and it is the largest TV manufacturer in China by market ...
, Changhong) and Japanese (
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
) TV manufacturers had such TVs on display. In February 2018, the company announced a Material Development and Supply Agreement with an undisclosed US corporation, to scale up and mass-produce novel nanoparticles for advanced electronic devices. Nanoco has since announced agreements with a number of partners relating to development of nanomaterials for use in applications including sensing. From May 2009 the company has been listed on AIM at the
London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
br>
then in May 2015 it moved to the main London Stock Exchange market. Nanoco Group PLC filed a patent infringement lawsuit against
Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
in February 2020, following a multi-year collaboration at the end of which
Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
launched a TV with quantum dot technology but without entering a license or supply agreement with Nanoco or its partners.


Cadmium-Free Quantum Dots

There is a move towards legislation that restricts or prohibits the use of heavy metals in products such electrical and electronic equipment. In Europe, the restricted metals include
cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Like zinc, it demonstrates oxidation state +2 in most of ...
, mercury (element), mercury,
lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
and
hexavalent chromium Hexavalent chromium (chromium(VI), Cr(VI), chromium 6) is chromium in any chemical compound that contains the element in the +6 oxidation state (thus hexavalent). Virtually all chromium ore is processed via hexavalent chromium, specifically the ...
. Cadmium is restricted 10-fold more than the other heavy metals, to 0.01% or 100 ppm by weight of homogeneous material. There are similar regulations in place, or soon to be implemented, worldwide including in Norway, Switzerland, China, Japan, South Korea and California. Cadmium and other restricted heavy metals used in conventional quantum dots are of a major concern in commercial applications. For QDs to be commercially viable in many applications they must not contain cadmium or other restricted elements. In response to a push from customers not to include cadmium in household electronics products, Nanoco has developed a range of CFQD® quantum dots, free of any regulated heavy metals. These materials show bright emission in the visible and near-infra-red region of the spectrum. Nanoco has developed a patented "molecular seeding" method of QD synthesis. Unlike "high temperature dual injection" methods of QD synthesis, the molecular seeding method circumvents the need for a high temperature injection step by utilising molecules of a molecular cluster compound to act as nucleation sites for nanoparticle growth. To maintain particle growth, further precursor additions are made at moderate temperatures until the desired QD size is reached. The process can easily be scaled to large volumes, and is used to produce Nanoco's CFQD® heavy metal-free quantum dots. While the molecular seeding process lends itself to III-V quantum dots, it can be used to produce a wide range of nanoparticle materials.


Sensing

Quantum dots can be use in the sensor industry to extend the range of current
CMOS Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS, pronounced "sea-moss", ) is a type of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) fabrication process that uses complementary and symmetrical pairs of p-type and n-type MOSFE ...
image sensors out into the near-
infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...
(NIR) and short-wavelength
infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...
(SWIR) range of wavelengths. Quantum dots can be tuned for specific absorption bands by adjusting the size of the particle and simply applying a layer onto the surface of a CMOS image sensor extends its sensitivity range out to this region. Extending this range allows the sensors to maintain the small pixel size of CMOS image sensors compared to other expensive technology in the NIR region, allowing for higher resolution camera devices at a much cheaper cost. Applications for NIR and SWIR CMOS image sensors are wide-ranging and include biometric facial recognition, optical diagnostics,
LiDAR Lidar (, also LIDAR, or LiDAR; sometimes LADAR) is a method for determining ranges (variable distance) by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. It can also be ...
and night vision.


Lighting

Quantum dots can be used as
LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...
down-conversion phosphors because they exhibit a broad excitation spectrum and high quantum efficiencies. Furthermore, the wavelength of the emission can be tuned completely across the visible region simply by varying the size of the dot or the type of semiconductor material. As such, they have the potential to be used to generate virtually any colour. Quantum dots are of particular interest for niche lighting applications, including horticultural lighting.


Displays

In recent years,
liquid crystal display A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat panel display, flat-panel display or other Electro-optic modulator, electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liqui ...
(LCD) technology has dominated the electronic display device market, with applications ranging from smartphones, to tablets, to televisions. Continual improvements in display quality and performance are sought. The
backlighting A backlight is a form of illumination used in liquid crystal displays (LCDs). As LCDs do not produce light by themselves—unlike, for example, cathode ray tube (CRT), plasma (PDP) or OLED displays—they need illumination ( ambient light or a s ...
technology in conventional LCD screens currently uses white LEDs. One of the shortcomings of this technology is that the white LEDs provide insufficient emission in the green and red areas of the visible spectrum, limiting the range of colours that can be displayed. One solution is to integrate QDs into LCD backlight units to improve the colour quality. Green and red QDs can be used in combination with blue LED backlights; the blue light excites the QDs, which convert some of the light into highly pure green and red light to expand the range of colours that the LCD screen can display. To further improve the performance of QD-based displays, QDs can be patterned at the subpixel level and employed as colour filters at the front of the displays. This architecture may replace the traditional pigment based colour filters, leading to enhanced efficiencies, viewing angles and contrast, as well as the highly saturated colour delivered by the use of QDs. The display landscape is constantly changing, but with the shift to μ- and mini-LEDs, quantum dots are looking likely to provide the only solution. μLEDs are LEDs with a very small chip size (down to single digit microns) which can be directly used as pixels on a display device. Due to the viewer seeing the LEDs directly this allows for higher contrast, response times and efficiency over traditional LCD technology, and their small size and high power density opens them up for wearable applications such as smartwatches and AR/ VR headsets. μLEDs, however, struggle to represent colours across the spectrum with red in particular providing a real challenge for the industry, with traditional colour conversion techniques such as phosphor being insufficient due to physical size constraints. Due to their small size and high absorbance characteristics, quantum dots provide an ideal solution to this issue. A thin layer of quantum dots can be applied to the top emitting surface of the μLED to down-convert the emission to those required for a full colour display. In addition, this technique allows for the colour conversion of blue μLEDs grown on one substrate, eliminating the need to bring multiple coloured LEDs together in an array for a display using expensive and time consuming manufacturing techniques.


Biological Imaging

Over the years, techniques have been developed for medical imaging using
fluorescent dyes A fluorophore (or fluorochrome, similarly to a chromophore) is a fluorescent chemical compound that can re-emit light upon light excitation. Fluorophores typically contain several combined aromatic groups, or planar or cyclic molecules with sev ...
, as a powerful tool for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. However, the fluorescent dyes currently used offer poor photostability, with narrow absorption spectra (requiring excitation at a precise wavelength) and/or weak fluorescence due to low extinction coefficients. The development of fluorescence imaging agents using QDs may pave the way for new medical imaging techniques. QDs offer a number of advantageous properties for fluorescence imaging, including high photostability, broad absorption spectra, narrow, symmetric and tunable emission spectra, slow excited state decay rates and high extinction coefficient resulting in strong fluorescence. The ability to conjugate quantum dots to a wide range of antibodies opens up a variety of applications both ''in vitro'' and ''in vivo'', from cell staining, to point-of-care diagnostics, to
photodynamic therapy Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a form of phototherapy involving light and a photosensitizing chemical substance, used in conjunction with molecular oxygen to elicit cell death (phototoxicity). PDT is popularly used in treating acne. It is used cl ...
and tumour demarcation. In 2020, Nanoco received funding from
Innovate UK Innovate UK is the United Kingdom's innovation agency, which provides money and support to organisations to make new products and services. It is a non-departmental public body operating at arm's length from the Government as part of the United ...
to develop a heavy metal-free quantum dot testing kit for the accurate and rapid detection of
SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...
from saliva samples.


References

{{Reflist, 2


External links


Nanoco

How quantum dots work




* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20140323201908/http://www.nanocotechnologies.com/content/CommercialApplications/QDDisplays.aspx The future of cadmium free QD display technology (QD TV)
Nanoco: selling tiny dots for big bucks

Nanoco Profile on Google Finance
Manufacturing companies based in Manchester Nanotechnology companies